The Design Process and Methods class relayed several interesting concepts, ideas and thought processes, to which I previously was not aware of. A prime example of this were the brainstorming concepts. I knew what brainstorming was, however I was not aware of the specific rules that were to be followed when utilizing this method and I was also unaware that there were so many different approaches to concept generation.

    Another area from which I learned much was with regards to my own personality through the DiSC sessions. I have detailed much of what I learned in the Team introspection, Individual Insight and Individual Progress areas of this website. To recap: I learned that I must be more flexible and willing to accept assistance from others, as well as their input, when it comes to both my job and my personal life. My strong "D" (Developer) profile and evaluation thereof made this blatantly clear.

    I also learned a significant amount of new concepts from the various homework problems that were assigned. Not only did I learn about subjects such as Optimization, Engineering specifications, Ethics, Brainstorming, Global Issues, Environmental Issues, etc., I also learned about my interaction style through the various group projects which took place during the semester. Working with several disparate individuals at once can be challenging, however this is a common occurrence in everyday work routines so it is vital that interpersonal communication is effective and conflict free. Group sizes also ranged from two up to six or seven. This also exposed the difficulties of organizing and scheduling meetings that all members of the group can participate in as the number of people in the group increases.

    In Optimization I learned that you can actually take a given set of, what would seem like unquantifiable information, and create equations and graphs to evaluate a product, or, more likely a component of a product, for its ability to meet the stated (customer) requirements. While it normally may not be practical to graph a specific solution since there may be many variables being evaluated at once, it is, however, always possible, no matter how many constraints need to be met, to achieve some sort of "best set" of solutions from which you can pick a "winner" to use. The in-class presentation detailing the one automobile manufacturer and their choices of head/leg/trunk space/etc. regarding this subject was particularly effective in conveying this concept.

    In Engineering specifications I learned how to tie customer requirements to tangible metrics by creating engineering specifications to meet these requirements. Customer requirements are the guide to which you are trying to satiate, and the engineering specifications pin these down with some sort of tangible numbers, values to which you can attempt to achieve when it comes time to actually design the product. Customer requirements are not always clear and concise, and the creation of engineering specifications makes the desired outcome more quantifiable.

    Regarding the ethics portion of the assigned homework, I learned that, while there may not be life altering decisions being made by me currently where I work, there are grey areas that must be addressed, even in what would seem to be the most mundane areas. The ability to stand up for the right course of action and not buckle to pressure from others, specifically those with a higher position in your company, is of great importance. An example of this is that as part of my job, I must run quality control for product that is imported from China. My decision as to whether a product is ok to ship to the consumer can have a large effect on the bottom line, and I must be able to say that, if necessary, the product either must be reworked or scrapped in entirety. This is not always the easiest "row to hoe".

    The final homework engrained even more deeply the concepts that I have to deal with every day, and that is the globalization of the consumer marketplace. The pressures for companies to reduce cost and become more and more lean and efficient is tremendous, almost ridiculous. Wasteful processes or areas such as transportation, inventory, over engineering and defective products must be reduced. Components must be able to be manufactured anywhere in the world, possibly even designed anywhere in the world. Environmental concerns must be addressed so that products are "green" or at least "greener" (less harmful to the environment). Designs must also be modified to accommodate many regions of the world in order for the product to perform well in the marketplace and for a company to thrive and grow in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

    During the course of the semester, there were also several videos that were presented in class, all of which had some relevance to the concepts that were being taught in the class at that point in time. There was the Ideo clip early in the semester where we learned how important it is to be able to think outside of the box, and that sometimes you have to completely reinvent a product in order to meet the stated or desired goals. There was a video regarding creativity which tried to express how important it is that you must look to the things that interest you when designing and to look for inspiration in order to capture the best ideas. There was another concerning engineering failures which showed how successes in engineering design can create bad designs by taking too large a risk on a proven design when working on the next. This video also showed, however, that engineering failures will lead to successes by pointing out the flaws in a design and by causing a reexamination of the concept and the creation redesigns to make it better.

    This class began with a simple question: What is design? Through the semester we have evaluated the concept of engineering design in many facets. We have defined the design process and detailed how to correctly identify the customer needs and desires. We've taken these desires and turned them into engineering specifications. We've examined ways to develop concepts to fulfill the requirements and then evaluated these to determine if they are feasible or not. We've found ways to determine the optimized  solution and then we've seen if the societal, global and environmental concerns are met and we've learned that products and companies must be global in order to succeed.

    This class has certainly detailed and all-encompassing answer to "What is design".

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